Australian Association of Family Therapy

The Australian Association of Family Therapy (Formally Victorian Association of Family Therapists) was formed in 1979. The membership currently totals 901, including 549 clinical members. Family therapists who hold Clinical membership of AAFT Inc. have a basic qualification in health or welfare (usually social work, psychology, or psychiatry) and further post-graduate training and supervision in family therapy.

Our members work in a range of practice settings. All have a commitment to working with families or parts of families, with a focus on issues of relationship, both within and across generations. Family therapy has developed a number of different theoretical and practice models, but consistently family members are seen as important allies in working to decrease distress in people’s lives.

There are seen to be a number of specialized conceptual and practice skills. The work may not always involve whole families in the room at the same time: some family therapists work with individuals, maintaining a relational focus (with family relationships as an important context), and others work with ‘broader systems’ such as organizations, schools, legal and protective services, maintaining a theoretical and conceptual family therapy focus. However, it is considered that the capacity to engage and work with all family members in a non-blaming way is a minimum requirement.

PACFA Section Family/Relationship Therapy

Website link www.aaft.asn.au